Metamora wins in final seconds

Cody Harms drove the lane for a layup with 3 seconds left Friday to give Canton Thanksgiving Tournament champion Metamora a 45-43 win over Macomb in a closer game than expected.

DON BAKER

Cody Harms drove the lane for a layup with 3 seconds left Friday to give Canton Thanksgiving Tournament champion Metamora a 45-43 win over Macomb in a closer game than expected.

Then Notre Dame used a 14-point run in the second half to finally pull away from Canton for its 59-45 win for second place.

J.D. Kamp led the Redbirds (3-0) with 15 points and Zeke Schneider had 11, nine of those coming in the second half.

“Macomb had a good game plan against Schneider,” first-year Metamora coach Jim Youngman said, “but we limited ourselves also. We didn’t execute well offensively. You can’t let shooting affect your game, and we got down when shots didn’t fall.

“But Cody Harms’ attack at the end took a lot of guts and we got it done.”

Metamora shot 18 of 51 in the game, but only 3 of 14 in the second quarter.

Metamora led 17-7 at the end of the first quarter but Macomb (0-3) tied the game at 30 in the third quarter and led 41-39 with less than two minutes left.

Macomb got off a halfcourt desperation shot that fell short to end the game.

“We had players who worked hard and competed,” Macomb coach Dan Watson said. “We did a good job defensively and battled them. We put ourselves in a position to win, but we missed a couple free throws and Harms made a great play at the end. They just made more plays down the stretch than we did.”

Max Bielfeldt led the Irish (2-1) with 12 points on 5-of-9 shooting and seven rebounds. Tyler Les had 11 points, including three 3-pointers.

With the game tied at 19 at halftime, Notre Dame took charge in the second half.

“We played our basketball in the second half,” ND coach Eddie Mathews said. “I think the way we played in the second half is the team we are.”

Matt Putrich led Canton with 17 points on 7-of-12 shooting.

“We fought like mad to get back by halftime,” Canton coach Jeff Otto said, “and I think we were too content with just getting back in the game.

“We came out flat in the second half and lost our effort and heart.”

Don Baker can be reached at 686-3214 or dbaker@pjstar.com

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